Hank Moody
"I'm disgusted with my life and myself, but I'm not unhappy about that." - Hank Moody Henry James "Hank" Moody is a famed novelist and a freelance writer. The show revolves around him trying to fix his relationship with his daughter and ex-girlfriend while battling with alcohol, drug and sex addiction. Overview Hank is in the middle of an on-again off-again relationship throughout the duration of the series. He has written several novels, such as South of Heaven, Seasons in the Abyss, and most notably, God Hates Us All, which was adapted into a movie called, A Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which admittedly Hank hated, because the Hollywood suits changed the script so much it barely resembled the original book. Although in his early forties, Hank seems to think of himself as, and act like, a man in his twenties. Profits from his books have enabled him to live a relatively comfortable and carefree lifestyle, one of the reasons for his arrested development in certain areas. Despite this, Hank still loves and cares deeply for his teenage daughter Becca, and on-again off-again love interest Karen ( Becca's mother). Still, Hank tends to find himself in trouble more often than not, with his daughter in school, and an abundance of time on his hands. One of Hank's major character flaws (and source of drama on the show), is his tendency to effortlessly attract women to him, bringing with them an assortment of trouble that usually often damages his family life. Being a successful writer, many women feel that they are already connected to Hank through his works, making it that much easier for Hank to respond to their flirtations. With Karen often out of town for her work, Hank tends to give in to these women more often than not, although sometimes he will try to restrain himself. A major effect of his promiscuity is that his daughter is often around to witness it, thus making things between Becca and Hank even more difficult. Despite this, Hank is still motivated by and dedicated to (in a way) his relationship with Karen. Another major source of trouble for Hank is hanging out with his friends. Whether it's music producer Lew Ashby and a drug-fueled all night sex party, or his best friend/agent Charlie Runkle; trouble is never far from the men. Hank and Charlie always seem to have a great time together, yet at the end of the night/morning, they know that it's been a wild ride. Examples include double-teaming a female boxing instructor, stealing from a bookstore (his own work no less), and getting tattoos while not remembering the previous night. Despite all of the aformentioned, Hank is a man on a journey to find (and perhaps redeem) himself, a central trait of the character, and theme of the entire series. History Pre-series Hank was born in the Bronx and his parents moved to Levittown, New York on Long Island to raise him.1 In his pursuit to become a writer, he moved to New York City; and eventually, his talent and gift were noticed by the literary community. Hank met Karen Van der Beek at CBGB and soon after she became pregnant in 1994, later giving birth to their daughter, Becca. After the publication of his third novel, God Hates Us All, which grew his popularity, Hank, Karen and Becca moved to Los Angeles so that Hank could work on the screenplay for the movie adaptation. Season 1 Pilot Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 In the two year gap between seasons 4 and 5, Moody had been a relationship with Carrie, whom he breaks up in the first episode of season 5. Hank travels to Los Angeles for a meeting with an important client. On the flight, he meets Kali. Season 6 Season 7 Personality Hank is an esteemed but erratic writer who frequently becomes embroiled in bizarre, and in some cases, scandalous situations. He has been described as the ultimate womanizer: he's charming, witty, handsome and, according to his former attorney Abby, "pretty good at math". It can be assumed that Hank suffers from depression. He often indulges himself in unhealthy activities such as alcohol and drug abuse out of guilt, something that his enemy director Todd Carr would call "wallowing in narcissistic despair". Still, Hank often does the things he does only to numb the pain he's going through at the time, with catastrophic consequences. Hank is an individualist that often takes pride in his craft. When Karen asked him to go to couple's therapy, he retorted by saying "I'm a writer, I don't get shit out like that!" ''He has a somewhat elitist attitude when it comes to the eternal debate of movies VS literature. In the pilot he scolded Becca for wanting to see Pirates of the Caribbean merely for the fact that it's based on a theme park ride instead of a book. Being a victim of Hollywood himself, he holds a grudge against the modern film industry, especially when it comes to working with Todd Carr. Ironically this individualism is only overshadowed by his vanity and ego. He often finds it impossible to resist any woman that says ''"I love your writing" ''and Hank has said the aforementioned to be his ''"Four favorite words in the English language". Hank is a bit of an old school kind of a guy. He has a strong liking for classic rock, especially Warren Zevon; Every time he finishes a book, he indulges himself in "Whiskey, weed and Warren Zevon". ''He also often complains to Becca about whatever he thinks is wrong with younger generation, modern TV, movies or music. He also has a beef with abbreviations like LOL and managed to anger the woman he was seeing back then, Meredith, for ridiculing people who type like that on public radio. He's also quite harsh when it comes to criticizing others in general: One of his students in season 3 tried to kill himself after Hank gave him notes on his writing. Despite all of his flaws, Hank is a loving father and loyal to the fault. While he can easily shrug off most of the things other people, even Charlie, might say to him, he is utterly defenseless against his daughter's critique and is often emotionally crushed by her harsh words. On many levels Becca is actually the only person with the ability to really get to Hank. Not even Karen has an effect of such magnitude on him. Lew Ashby once reminded him of this by saying ''"At the end of the day, it's all about her.". As the show progressed, Hank's worst features mellowed down by a wide margin. Especially his relationship with sex seemed to have gotten a lot healthier. He never quite got rid of his charm over women, though. Relationships Family * Becca Moody '''- Hank's intelligent daughter. She has an influence so deep on Hank that it's unrivaled even by Karen. Hank loves and cares deeply for Becca and often calls her the most beautiful thing in the world. * '''Al Moody - Hank's estranged father. Hank is bitter toward his father for apparently being a very old-fashioned parent that would physically discipline him for misbehaving. When Hank heard the news of his passing from his sister in season 1, he would realize the conflict in his feelings for Al and end up on a drug-fueled night of trying to numb the pain. * Levon - Hank's recently discovered son. Levon first meets Hank at Charlie's house, having sent a dozen emails to Charlie to set up a meeting to interview Hank. Levon would again sit down with Hank at a cafe for a second interview, telling him he had slept with his mom. After when he did so, Levon tells him it was 9 months before he was born. Friendly * Charlie Runkle - Hank's agent and best friend. Charlie often works as Hank's conscience, but ironically enough is nowhere near without flaws himself. The two have a very unique symbiotic relationship which has been tested by numerous times the two have gotten themselves in trouble, legal or otherwise. * Marcy Runkle * Lew Ashby - A record producer from Laurel Canyon. Lew is pretty much the only one that can even remotely rival Charlie's status as Hank's best friend. Hank might find him more relatable than Charlie when it comes to the life he leads, but even Hank has trouble with understanding Lew's insane antics at times. Lew died in Hank's arms at the end of season 2. * Richard Bates - A writer and one of Hank's influences. Hank would later find out that he shared a night with Karen before they even met which doesn't sit well with him. He would later marry her in season 5 which would drive their rivalry even further. Oddly enough the two still get along very well for loving the same woman and appear to share a love/hate relationship with each other. * Stu Beggs - The well-hung, filthy rich Hollywood movie producer. After marrying Marcy right from under Charlie's nose, Stu ended up often working with Hank and him. He would openly disrespect Charlie whenever he could, but his attitude toward Hank was much more pleasant and the two apparently considered each other friends. A wrench would be thrown into their relationship when Stu fired Hank as the writer of Santa Monica Cop, replacing him with Tyler, Becca's unfaithful boyfriend. * Sonja * Beatrice Trixie * Janie Jones * Eddie Nero * Samurai Apocalypse: Samurai set up a meeting with Hank, bringing hank to Los Angeles, wanting him to write the screenplay for Santa Monica Cop * Atticus Fetch * Marilyn Manson * [[Trudy|'Trudy']] * Rick Rath: Rath sets up an interview with Hank. At first, Rath tells Hank that he won't hire him, having done his research on Hanks previous employment and various exploits, and was not convinced Hank would be an asset to his team. Antagonistic * Bill Lewis * Mia Lewis * Julian Self * Stacy Koons * Chelsea Koons * Ben Romantic * Karen Van Der Beek - Hank's "baby mama" and the love of his life. Hank is trying the best he can to fix his issues with Karen, but she usually fails to understand his good intentions... Mostly because of the disastrous consequences. The two still share a passionate on-again/off-again relationship. * Julia * Meredith * Michelle "The Surfer Girl" * Felicia Koons * Jackie * Jill * Abby * Sasha Bingham * [[Carrie|'Carrie']] - between seasons 4 and 5, Hank had been in a relationship with Carrie, only to unceremoniously dump Carrie before leaving for Los Angeles. Showing her true colours as obsessed, Carrie sets fire to Hank's apartment, leaving Hank trapped in LA. Carrie ultimately tracks down Hank to Charlie's apartment. * Kali * Faith Category:Fathers Category:Males Category:Moody family Category:Nymphomaniacs Category:Oral arts (mastery) Category:Writers Category:Deceased Category:Deceased characters